As we've noted before, David Shuster has not been shy in the past when it comes to using Twitter to push his left-wing views. But the MSNBC host has been oddly silent since late January, following attacks he made against conservative activist James O'Keefe on Twitter.

Well last night, thanks to a slip-up in which he inadvertently tweeted what he intended to be direct messages sent privately to a fan, Shuster revealed what many of us around here at NewsBusters have suspected all along: MSNBC execs put the liberal host in the time-out corner when it comes to Twitter.

Shuster apparently realized his mistake and deleted the accidental tweets, but Mediaite got the screen capture (shown at right) before they were deleted.

MSNBC anchor David Shuster broke his three-week long Twitter silence last night with a strange series of explanatory tweets about his absence – that were all deleted a few hours later.

What does appear to be clear, however, is Shuster says MSNBC management is stopping him from tweeting.

Shuster’s tweets were posted by text last night, and honestly looked like direct messages – to someone – gone awry. In other words, they were never meant to be published to his 24,000+ followers. Maybe. Either way, Shuster wrote, “Thankyou. I appreciate it. I’m hoping mgmt will revisit the twitter issue soon. Thx again 4 your support.”

[...]

...Shuster is claiming management has cracked down on his Twitter use. And it’s not for any set amount (Shuster was once suspended for two weeks for a crack at Chelsea Clinton) – Shuster says he hopes “to get the green light to Twitter again soon.”

That means he has no idea when, or even if, MSNBC will allow him to get back on the social media service. Or, that’s what he’s willing to say publicly (or, accidentally publicly). And as MSNBC continues their silence on the truth, we are forced to continue to speculate.